USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 29
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14 'Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 198, 200.
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from the Committee in whose hands the Town's Bonds are reposed ? " But at that meeting, the majority were still so well satisfied with Mr. Reed's sureties, and so confident of the in- tegrity of the present committee in their management of the town's property, that they passed over this article of the war- rant without taking any action upon it.35 But a continual drop- ping will wear away stones, and oft repeated insinuations against any individuals in a community, or persevering attempts to infuse jealousies and suspicions of them into the public mind, will hardly fail of making a disparaging impression at last, whether deserved or not. At a meeting, February 2, 1737-8, the town chose a committee of three, viz, Mr. John Russell, Jonathan Poole, Esq., and Mr. Jacob Wyman, " to see what cir- cumstances the money that the 2,000 acres of land at Lunenburg was sold for. is under, and what security there is for the same," etc.36 And in the warrant for the March meeting ensuing, one article was, " To hear the Report of this committee; and if the town shall think the security of the said money not to be good, to take better security of the standing Committee, if they will give it, or choose a committee that will give security to the town's acceptance by making a Return of the sale of said land to the Town in order to be recorded, and discharge the old Committee." 37
In this article (a few words being transposed which are evi- dently misplaced upon the records, as they are here copied) it is plainly implied, that a return from the old or Standing Commit- tee of their sale of the land, to be put upon record, would be deemed sufficient security for their faithfulness in the discharge of their trust. Accordingly, at the meeting, March 6th, such a return was actually made, accepted by the Town, and put upon record, subscribed by each member of the Standing Committee, with his own hand.38 And yet, at the same meeting, (at the instigation doubtless of some whom nothing done by the old committee could reconcile or please) the town voted, " that the security given by the Committee (of trust) to the Town is not
35 Town Recorde, Vol. VIL., pp. 226, 227.
17 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 270.
M Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 267.
88 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 151.
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sufficient." 39 And, at a subsequent meeting, May 19th, follow- ing, they chose a committee of nine, to whom, or to a majority of them, provided they gave security to the Town Treasurer to the Town's acceptance, they gave full power " to call in and take the charge of all the Town's money which the Two Thousand Acres of land lying at Lunenburg was sold for by the Town to Ensign Israel Reed "; and also, " full power to discharge the former Committee (viz : Mr. Josiah Johnson, Capt. John Fowle, and Lieut. Edward Johnson) upon their surrendering up said money." 40 The committee chosen for these purposes, were Jonathan Poole, Esq., Nathan Richardson, William Tay, Benja- min Johnson, Nathan Wyman, Ensign James Procter, Capt. John Fowle, Lieut. Edward Johnson, and Thomas Belknap, Jr. ; 40 of whom, two, it will be observed, viz : Capt. Fowle and Lieut. Johnson, were on the original committee that sold the land. And now the grand question was, what shall be the security which the new committee should give ? On this point, there was evidently much hesitation, and great division of opinion. A meeting was appointed, November 20, 1738, to decide this matter; but all which could be effected, was barely to vote that they would have security from their new committee for their money, and then to adjourn for a fortnight.
At the adjournment, it was determined, that " those persons that have the Trust of letting out the Town's £3,000 and £300 shall give personal Bonds with lawful Interest for the use of the Town, to a Committee that the Town shall appoint and their successors, and acknowledge their bonds, and said bonds to be recorded in the County Records." 41 A further adjournment was then voted to December 25, when it was probably ascer- tained that several members of the committee of nine chosen, and especially the two that had belonged to the old committee, would not accept the trust upon the conditions that had recently been prescribed. For, on that day, a new committee of nine was chosen, consisting of Jonathan Poole, Esq., for chairman, Josiah Peirce, Lieut. James Simonds, William Tay, Edward
59 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 275.
4 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 282, 297.
ul Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 256.
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Walker, Nathan Richardson, Benjamin Johnson, David Wyman, and Quartermaster Timothy Brooks. There was likewise chosen another committee of three, viz, Mr. Timothy Snow, Lieut. Peirson Richardson, and Mr. Nathan Wyman, which was to take bonds and good security, on behalf of the town of Woburn, of the committee of nine for the care and management of the town's money. The following votes were then passed by the Town for the direction of these, its several committees, on this subject :
1. That the committee of nine that day chosen " to receive the money or bonds of the old committee, (to wit, Mr. Josiah Johnson, John Fowle, Lieut. Edward Johnson,") shall have " full power to recover in the law the said bonds or money ; and upon their receiv- ing the said money and bonds of the old Committee aforemen- tioned, then by a Receipt under their hands or the major part of them, fully to discharge the said Josiah Johnson, John Fowle, Mr Edward Johnson the aforementioned Committee and their heirs of the full sum of three thousand and three hundred pounds (and) the interest of the same, for which they the said Committee sold the land for, lying in the township of Lunenburg, for the town of Woburn.
2dly. "Voted, That the Receipt so given by the said Committee shall be laid upon record in the Book of Records for Woburn.
3ly. " Voted, That the above said Committee [of nine] shall upon their receiving the said money or bonds into their hands and under their care and charge, shall let it ont unto the inhabitants of the town of Woburn, and that for no more than lawful interest.
4ly. " Voted, That the said Committee, upon their receiving the said money or bonds, shall give bond or bonds, to the value of three thousand and three hundred pounds with lawful interest to Mr Timothy Snow, Mr Peirson Richardson and Mr Nathan Wyman, trustees chosen by said town to receive the same, and keep them for and in behalf of the Town.
5ly. " Voted, That the bonds for the sum of three thousand and three hundred pound with the interest, given by the above said Committee to the above said Trustees, shall be for one year :" [that is, it is presumed, shall be recoverable in one year].
Gly. " Voted, That the said Trustees shall make return of said
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bonds so received by them for and in behalf of said Town, for the sum above mentioned." 42
Such was the arrangement made by the town for the security of its money, about to be put into the hands of its newly appoin- ted Committee. And had this arrangement been firmly adhered to, and insisted on by the town, this committee would have been effectually guarded against temptation to deviate from a strictly upright course, and been prompted by motives of interest, as well as of duty and honor, to manage their trust with a single eye to the public benefit. But men are not always willing to be dealt with themselves by the same measure that they would have others dealt by, under like circumstances. No sooner had the old committee been dismissed, upon the plea of insufficient security, and the new one chosen and had accepted, than the latter began to flinch at complying with the conditions of their office, to shrink and hold back from giving themselves such secu- rity as that, for the want of which they had raised such a breeze against their predecessors. Accordingly, they and their friends speedily combined to procure a relaxation of the strict terms of their appointment. At the same time, another party arose, which being disgusted with the hollow pretences and fruitless contentions on this subject, with which the town had been so long disturbed, was for procuring the dismission of all the com- mittees in this affair, calling in the money, and distributing it among the several inhabitants of the town, or between the two parishes, according to their respective taxes.43 But the former party prevailed.
At a meeting, February 21, 1738-9, after confirming its choice of the committee of nine, as a committee of trust to succeed the old committee, and renewing its grant to them of all necessary powers to this end, the town materially changed the security demanded of them at their election two months before. It allowed them to loan its money in the capacity of a town's committee only, without giving personal bonds ; and required of them, beside being sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust,
42 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 287, 288.
43 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 300, 338. .
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to give such security for the £3,300 as should be satisfactory to the town.44 And the better to determine what that security ought to be, a committee was appointed, viz : Mr. Josiah John- son, Capt. Isaac Dupee, Capt. John Fowle, Jr., Dr. Jonathan Haywood, Ensign James Procter, Mr. Nathan Blogget and Mr. John Russell, to prepare a draft in writing, which, being accepted by the town, should be entered in the Town Book.44 This com- mittee was expected to report at March meeting, then close at hand. But this expectation was doomed to disappointment. The committee, it seems, could not agree upon any report which the town might be thought willing to accept. And, when the time arrived for submitting their draft to its consideration, provision was suddenly made for substituting something very different in its stead. At that meeting, March 5, 1738-9, Mr. Roland Cotton, Capt. Isaac Dupee, Dr. Jonathan Haywood, Mr. James Procter and Mr. John Russell, were appointed to draft a resolu- tion, by which all persons who should hire the town's Loan Money might be excluded from voting and acting in town meeting, in all questions respecting it. These gentlemen (all of whom, except the chairman, had been on the drafting committee, chosen at the preceding meeting) drew up on the spot the follow- ing resolution, which was immediately accepted by the town : " Voted, that in all votes touching or in any ways concerning the letting out or calling in of the said monies or security for said monies belonging to said Town, or the appointing committee men to manage the same, or in the removing or displacing of com- mittees or any of them relating to said money or security, no person or persons that holds any part or parcell thereof, or hath taken any part or parcell thereof upon loan, shall have any vote or voice therein ; [ but] during the time of their being principal for the same or any part thereof shall be from voting debarred and excluded." 15
This resolve sounds, in reading it, a very stringent one; and, could it have been executed, might have been effectual to answer the end intended. But the difficulty was, to execute it .. There is not the least evidence that it was ever even attempted to be
" Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 303, 304.
43 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 308.
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enforced. And when it is considered (as a credible tradition to be referred to hereafter, gives too much reason for sup- posing) that a large proportion, if not a majority of the voters in town affairs, eventually became debtors to the town for larger or smaller sums of its loan money, it is easy to see how this resolution, so forcible in words, should become a mere dead letter on the Records, utterly impracticable in Woburn at that day. And thus the several provisions made by the town for its security, in respect to the money for its two thousand acres, while in the hands of its new or second committee, were vir- tually rendered, one after another, null and void. The several members of that committee were pledged, as was understood at their appointment, to give personal bonds for their fidelity in the management of the town's money intrusted to them: but they, or their friends for them, had contrived to evade this obligation, by procuring the substitution of easier terms in its stead. They were ordered to be sworn to the faithful dis- charge of their trust; but there is no notice on the Records that an oath, to this purpose, was ever administered to them. They were required to give such security as a committee, chosen expressly for this end, should agree upon, and as the town, when it was submitted to them, should accept. But, for reasons that can only be conjectured, that committee never reported. A second committee was then appointed for drafting such security, which did report. But the resolution which they recommended, and the town accepted, was such, that while it bound in words both the committee which let the town's money, and the inhabi- tants who borrowed it, appears to have been found impracticable to be executed; unequal to hold or restrain either the lenders or the borrowers of the money to be secured. And thus, not- withstanding all the noise and bluster with which, for four years, the town had been agitated about getting better security for the money arising from the sale of the town's land at Lunen- berg than the committee who sold it had given, the town was not a whit better off than before. The new committee of nine gave no better security, in effect for their fidelity, than the old committee of three had done, which had been displaced to make
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way for it. The only difference was, that the responsibility which had once been borne by three, was now divided between nine; and whereas the former committee had given all the security that was originally asked of them by the town, the latter committee had contrived, themselves, or by their friends, to get rid of, or to nullify that which had been successively demanded of them, and which, by not declining at their appoint- ment or confirmation in office, they had virtually agreed, in good faith, to give.
And now the new committee of trust, (or at least, as many of them as saw fit to accept,40) being firmly established in their office, and furnished by the town with all requisite powers for the discharge of it, went to work. To this time, the proceeds of the sale of the 2,000 acres, consisting principally of bonds for a portion of the purchase money still due from Ensign Reed, and of bonds for loans to inhabitants of Woburn of moneys received from him, had remained in the hands of the original committee. At a general meeting, Febuary 21, 1738-9, the town by vote ordered that committee to deliver up those bonds and whatever money they had of the town's, into the hands of the new committee.46 But for some reason, now un- known, they demurred about doing it, and in consequence of their delay, the new committee instituted a suit at law against them, before the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex, at its session in Concord, the following Angust. At the trial, the plaintiff's, in the name of the inhabitants of Woburn, alleged that the defendants had often refused and, still continued to refuse, giving them a reasonable account of the money they had received for the land which they had been commissioned to sell for the town's use; and laid the damage at £4,000. On the other hand, the defendants, by their attorney, William Brattle, Esq., averred, that they always had been, and now were ready to account with their employers in this matter. Upon this
40 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 282. All of the committee of nine first chosen not necept- Ing, another committee was appointed containing some new names; which aco pp. 297, 303. And It subsequently appeared that two or three of those never acted with the rest.
4 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 297, 303, 304.
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declaration, the Court appointed Samuel Danforth, Esq., of Cam- bridge, Thomas Jenner, Joseph Lemmon, and Samuel Cary, Esqrs., of Charlestown, and Judah Morris, the celebrated Jewish convert to Christianity and teacher of Hebrew in Harvard Col- lege, or any three of them, as " Anditors of the Account, in this Action, and ordered that the Defendants account before the said Auditors accordingly : and the Action was continued to (the De- cember) Term for their Report." At the session of the Court at Charlestown, in December, the Auditors reported, " that hav- ing heard the Parties and examined their papers, they find that there is due to the Inhabitants of the Town of Woburn from the said Committee, the Defendants, three thousand three hundred pounds for Principal, and two hundred thirty seven pounds seven shillings for Interest to this day, in the whole, three thousand five hundred thirty seven pounds seven shillings ; which with eight hun- dred ninety five pounds thirteen shillings they have paid in to the Town Treasurer, and seven pounds now allowed them with four- teen pounds formerly paid them by the Town, is in full for their trouble in viewing, selling the Land, and letting out the Money ; which several Sums before mentioned we judge to be in full of all dues and demands from the Defendants to the Inhabitants of the Town of Woburn."
This Report, subscribed by Thomas Jenner, Joseph Lemmon and Judah Morris, Auditors, the Court accepted, and ordered it to be recorded; and decided upon the Action as follows : "that the Inhabitants of Woburn aforesaid recover against the said Josiah Johnson, John Fowle and Edward Johnson the sum of three thousand five hundred thirty seven pounds seven shillings money Damage, and Costs of Suit with the charge of Auditing, the whole whercof taxed at twenty eight pounds seven shillings & six pence." 47 From this judgment, the defendants appealed to the next Superior Court for the County. But their appeal was to no purpose. Within a few days after the decision of the In- ferior Court, Mr. Josiah Johnson, chairman of the old commit- tec, died.48 And from his heirs and from the two surviving
47 Records of Inferior Court at Cambridge; December, 1737 - August, 1740, p. 557. 4 Records of Births and Deaths in Woburn.
25*
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members of that committee, Capt. Fowle and Dea. Edward Johnson, of the Precinct, there was afterwards recovered in the law, for damage and costs, the increased sum of £3,623 11s. For this large amount, settlement appears to have been made by the old committee shortly after, by delivering up the bonds and all other property of the town in their hands to the new committee; who accordingly stand recorded as responsible to the town for it, in the Town Book, June 18, 1741.49
From the last mentioned date, June 18, 1741, when the new committee had obtained the entire control of the town's money for their 2,000 acres, they seem to have managed it for some time to general satisfaction. The sum taken into their hands, amounted, it was just observed, to £3,623 11s. From this deducting £87 14s. allowed them by the town for lawyers' fees, and their own time and expenses in attending Court during their suit against the old committee, there remained £3,535 17s. to be disposed of by them for the benefit of the town. Of this sum, £3,300 constituted a permanent Loan Fund for the benefit of the town, from the proceeds of the sale of its land in Lunenburg, and now consisted principally of bonds given jointly and severally by individuals for money they had unitedly borrowed from it upon interest, in sums not exceeding £100 each.
The residue, £235 17s. seems to have been an accumulation of interest, which had been received by the old committee; and which, being now paid into the treasury of the town, and added to so much of the interest annually due upon the bonds, as the new committee collected and paid, proved sufficient, several years, for defraying all the usual town and county expenses, and saved the necessity of assessing any tax in Woburn for ordi- nary purposes, except the Province tax, till February 1746-7.
But now the new committee became gradually very dilatory and backward in collecting and paying in the interest due on the town's loan money intrusted to their care. As the Treas- urer's book shows, they were accustomed to pay portions of this
49 Town Records, Vol. VII., pp. 371, 372.
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interest every year, but, generally speaking, not till it had been due above a twelvemonth; and then in such partial payments, as all of them together did not satisfy the just claims of the town. The failure of the committee in this respect was doubt- less owing, in a very considerable degree, to the depreciation of money then prevalent. Province Bills of Credit, in which the interest money from the loan fund was wont to be paid, were not worth so much in 1741, when the committee took that fund into their charge, as they were in 1734, when the land in Lunenburg was sold, and the fund was established from the proceeds of its sale; and this, their diminished value, was con- tinually diminishing.50 To remove the difficulty, which this constant depreciation must obviously occasion, both to the com- mittee who had the charge of the loan money, and to those who were indebted to them for loans from it, the town, at a meeting, August 27, 1744, voted, that "the Town will not require the Sink of their Money in the hands of the present Committee, neither shall the same be required by the said Committee of those who have said Money in their hands, untill further order from the Town." 51 But this vote (which proved in the end a virtual relinquishment of the fund itself, for the sake of securing the prompt payment of the interest due upon sums loaned from it) did not answer the end intended. While it greatly facilitated the action of the committee in collecting and paying up the interest due to the town, it did not effect any material change for the better in their management on this head. With some honor- able exceptions, they still made but partial payments of the interest coming to the town from its loan fund ; and were gener- ally a year or more behind hand in doing this. This remissness caused much vexation and uneasiness, and great loss to the people of Woburn. It obliged the town to have recourse once more to taxation (from which, through aid from its loan fund, it had been for several years in good measure free,) for defraying its common necessary charges. It became at length a matter of
60 Bills In 1734 were in the proportion of twenty-four shillings to one ounce of silver; from 1741 to 1744, as twenty-eight shillings to one ounce; and In 1745, as thirty-five shillings to an ounce of silver In value. - See Felt on Massachusetts Currency, p. 135.
$1 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 451.
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public, serious complaint in town meeting; and for a series of years, this community was much occupied in devising, and in some instances adopting, a variety of measures for correcting the negligence of the committee in this matter, and for remedying the inconveniences and troubles which it occasioned. But such were the intrinsic defects in these measures themselves, or the difficulty of carrying them in town meeting, in the face of the opposition which they excited, or the lack of energy or decision in those who were appointed to carry them into effect, or the strong influence exerted to thwart or defeat their execution, that little or nothing was accomplished by them. For instance, (to notice some of these measures in a brief, summary way,) at a town meeting, March 6, 1748-9, the town treasurer was ordered to sue cach committee-man at the law, who failed to pay in the interest coming from him, within a year from the time it became due ; but this was a delicate business, which the treasurer seems to have been averse to meddling with; and so nothing was done.52
It was proposed in the warrant for a meeting, May 22, 1753, to choose a committee to inquire, why the interest of their loan money was not paid in, agreeably to vote of the town ? But when the town came together, the article was dismissed, and no inquiry was made.53
Again, the town ordered the committee, May 13, 1754, to reduce every bond in their hands to lawful money which had not been reduced before, and then to sue it, unless the interest due on it were paid before the next Inferior Court; but this severe expedient proved, eventually, to be a mere empty threat; or if actually tried, it was without success.5.1
Again, at a meeting, May 12, 1757, the town empowered and directed its treasurer to demand forthwith, of the committee for its Loan Fund, the interest then due from it to the town; and in case of negleet to pay, to sue immediately for the principal, held by each delinquent. But there is no evidence that this order was ever complied with by the Treasurer.55
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